Alberich Sunshadow
Name: Alberich Sunshadow Gender: Male Nationality: Tawareten Rank/Social Class: Paladin Age: 30 Race: half drow , half human Hair: Silver Eyes: Dark Gray Height: 5'7" Appearence: Lean and wiry and on the tall end for one of dark elf heritage, Alberich shows the signs of his breeding quite plainly in his appearance. He has glossy dark skin leaning towards the purple-grey shades rather than human brown, silvery hair a little longer than shoulder length, high cheekbones and narrow features, pointed ears, and dark grey eyes so sensitive to light that he resorts to wearing special tinted goggles during the day to protect them. He keeps his clothing simple and typically styled after the Tomb Warden uniform- red vest, white shirt, black trousers, and long coat. The coat is usually black, but it is embroidered with the Dawnflower's symbol on the back. In battle, he favors mithril scale mail with either his black coat or a white surcoat with the Dawnflower on the back and front. He has the Dawnflower tattooed on his right shoulder blade in pale gold ink. It is detailed with special heat-scattering inks, so the tattoo can be seen clearly with darkvision. Abilities/Skills: Paladin magics, including healing spells and magics to turn away the undead. He also knows a little of wizardly magic and more of the theory behind wizard magic. He has extensive knowledge of undead and how to combat them. Alberich is very adept with wielding a pair of enchanted scimitars and a composite shortbow. He has very acute senses from his dark elf father, including very sensitive hearing and darkvision- the ability to see in the infrared spectrum. This allows him to see clearly in total darkness. Alberich is very comfortable operating at night or underground as a result. Personality: Alberich is what most people would call 'a pretty good guy'. In accordance with both the dictates of his Goddess and the rules that govern Tomb Warden actions in the field, he'll always give an intelligent foe a chance to surrender before battle is drawn. When it comes to a fight, he's usually leading the charge, his kills are as quick and clean as possible, and those who choose to lay down arms are not only spared but are given prompt medical care. Socially, he's a little bit awkward- it comes from having grown up in a Temple. But most of the time, his earnestness (and his Tomb Warden and religious insignia) tend to help him overcome whatever troubles he has spitting out what he's trying to say by encouraging others to listen to him. He deals with rookies with the sort of amused, faux-exasperated tolerance of a senior Warden and is quite generous when it comes to patching up his teammates. He has a pretty good grasp of tactics, however, and doesn't hesitate when it comes to directing his compatriots before and during combat. Admittedly, whether or not his fellow Wardens actually listen to his directions is always hit or miss, but he hasn't lost anyone yet due to flubbed tactics. As a rule, he has Issues with undead things. It's nothing personal, really, it's more dogmatic than anything else- on top of the simple view most living beings have of the unnatural abominations to life that the undead are, he is sworn to a goddess who has a particular emphasis on that. Undead are unnatural and dangerous, and are one of the few exceptions to Sarenrae's general policy of 'offer it a second chance and help it pursue it should it choose to accept'. Part of Alberich's particular set of paladin oaths are to stand and fight against these monstrous beings, something he takes very seriously. In general, Alberich will do his utmost to destroy undead creatures. There's a single exception to this- a fellow Strike Team 13 member, Sir Paul. Paul is, essentially, a ghost inhabiting a suit of armor, powered by an indomitable will to Get Things Done. Alberich has worked with Paul on a number of missions. Initially, things were rather tense between them on Alberich's side- Paul is, technically, undead, and yet he is a fellow Warden and a very useful one at that, so Alberich was initially obligated not to smite him straight into true death. He tended to be rather standoffish with Paul, especially at first, but his attitude has changed after Paul intercepted several deadly blows from a cursed vorpal sword Alberich had foolishly taken up. Paul's actions saved Alberich's life at least twice during that battle at the cost of great damage to himself. This is something the drow paladin cannot take lightly, and has since decided to set aside his deep dislike of undead beings in regards to his fellow Warden. Alberich will be the first to admit he can be duped- one such incidence lead to the situation that convinced him to rethink his dislike of Paul- but it's hard to catch him again with the same trick. He will always honor a deal- but if it was a deal he was duped into, he'll find a way to not only fulfill his end, but do so in a way that also says 'screw you and the horse you rode in on, buddy'. Politely, of course. He is a paladin, after all, and oblidged to follow a certain code of conduct. Personally, he's a bit of a loner. Being half-drow will do that to a person. He's amicable enough when he isn't tripping over his own words, but for the most part he keeps to himself when not on a mission. He has a few friends in distant lands he goes to see as regularly as he can, and a few friends in the Temple, but that's about it as far as socializing goes. He spends a lot of free time either training or in the Temple library and has even picked up a bit of not-strictly-paladin magic as a result. One thing he's quite particular on- his name is pronounced 'Awl-ber-rick', not 'Al-ber-rich'. Biography: Like many halfbreeds who count a drow as one of their parents, Alberich Sunshadow's origins were not happy. In the lands north of the Seven Kingdoms of Sand, the subterranean dark elves form raiding parties on a regular basis, striking at settlements of humans, dwarves, and their more pleasant elven cousins. These raiding parties destroy homes, steal food and supplies, slaughter livestock, and kidnap the inhabitants as slaves or sacrifices to their dark goddess. Those slaves who are skilled craftsmen have a slightly easier existance under their new drow masters, being made to ply their crafts day in and day out in the underground cities, rather than being forced into hard labor at the hands and whips of their cruel overseers. It is also quite common for such slaves, particularly the comely ones, to be forced to ply an entirely different craft, one which sometimes produces a variety of half-drow children. Records kept by the Temple of the Redeeming Sun indicate that Alberich's mother was one such slave,a human weaver rescued from servitude when a rescue party assaulted the drow outpost where she was being held. She and the other freed slaves were taken to the Temple for care and recuperation, during which time she gave birth to her son. Unable to deal with this too-obvious sign of her servitude and torment, the woman left the half-drow infant in the care of the Temple. The boy, dubbed Alberich by the Temple priests, found a home in the house of a goddess who was renowned for her compassion and belief in the power of redemption. He did soon learn not to venture off the Temple grounds without wearing some obvious mark of the Order on his person, for even in a city as relatively open-minded as Reliquary, it was not unknown for one who clearly bore the bloodlines of the hated drow to be attacked on sight. On numerous occasions it was only Sarenrae's mark that prevented altercations, and sometimes not even then. Young Alberich learned to fight and escape tormenters at a very young age. Like all of Sahar's dedicated followers, Alberich took to studying the use of the scimitar, both for its use as a tool to center mind and body and as a weapon to bear againt the forces of darkness and undeath. He originally intended to serve as one of the Temple's field agents, rouguish warriors who use trickery and martial prowess to remove isolated pockets of evil, but during his training the young half-drow received a vision from Sahar Herself, bidding him to pursue the path of the Paladin instead. Alberich did so with enthusiasm, applying himself to the work. He was granted the rank of Paladin several years later, and after two years of working solo and with other members of the Temple, took a position as a Tomb Warden. These days, relaively few people go out of their way to torment the half-drow, for his status as a Paladin of Sahar and a Tomb Warden go a long ways towards assuring others that he is unlike his drow relatives. He is a rotating member of Strike Team 13 and is becoming known for generating unusual tactics- usually ones that take advantage of his some-time partner Sir Paul's rather unique capabilities- and for his compassion towards most adversaries. He sees relatively little combat, preferring to give most enemies a chance for peaceful interactions aside from those who are undead, but is a deadly force when it comes to a fight while wielding his flaming scimitars. During Desert Thorn: Trivia: The name 'Alberich ' is the root name from which the French translation Oberon, the name of the King of the Fae, is derived. The name itself means 'elf ruler' or 'supernaturally powerful', and is also the name of a treasure-guarding dwarf in Nordic mythology. In this case, however, Alberich is named for the weaponsmaster from Mercedes Lackey's Heralds of Valdemar series. Alberich was originally designed for a Pathfinder roleplaying game and was adopted into Desert Thorn after it proved he got on splendidly with the other characters. Alberich can be construed as a replacement/modification of his creator's earlier half-drow character, a ranger named Owen who was created for another tabletop RPG. Category:characters